Within
by Aerilon452
Summary: Belle Asks Rumple a question. COMPLETE. ONE SHOT.


Summary**:** Belle and Rumple are back at the Dark Castle.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Once Upon A Time.

Rating: T

Pairing: Lacey and Gold

**WITHIN:**

Belle stood by one of the large windows in the main hall looking out at the home she had come to live while living with Rumplestilskin as his servant. The Dark Castle. It had been restored with magic, the grounds, and the main gates, but the forest beyond was a thing of nightmares. It was wild and crawling with Ogre's. The forest was dangerous and she was safe. Even Ogre's feared the power within the castle. Belle would have had a problem with the magic as well if it wasn't keeping her, and the charming family safe. She was reconciling the fact that she had been a woman who loved the darker impulses of men, of Rumplestiltskin. What was going to become of her life? Belle sighed.

"You look so serious right now," Rumple said as he had been watching her for the last few minutes. Belle turned to him allowing him to see the troubled thoughts flying through her brain. She could never hide her emotions from him. "What's the matter darling?" Rumple asked striding across the room to her back in clothes he had worn for centuries. This was him. This was who he showed to the world. His skin was the eerie golden hue just as his eyes were amber and hinted at his power. He was home and he was with Belle. Rumple came to her looped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. "Tell me." Gently, he ordered her.

"I'm just trying to understand how much darkness I have inside of me." Belle said resting her head on his chest, just over his heart. "Lacey was… She was…" Belle was having trouble finding the right words to describe her alter ego. An ego Belle never would have known she could have become. "I never knew I could be that dark." She looked into Rumple's eyes; eyes she had fallen in love with.

"Oh, sweetheart," Rumple kissed her forehead, "You are not dark." He assured her. "Lacey is a part of you that has always been there, but it's a side you never fed, never thought to indulge, until Regina." Stepping back he continued, "Lacey, to me, wasn't all that bad." Maybe he shouldn't have used the word bad to describe her.

"Uh huh," Belle cocked her head to the side, "I know why you didn't think she was bad." Belle teased placing her hands flat to his chest. "You liked all those short short skirts she wore and that she wore black." Belle moved away from him to sit on the edge of the table as she used to do. "You like Lacey because she flattered your dark ego." Her tone may have been playful, but her words hit a note of truth she had been wanting to say since the spell had been broken for her.

Rumple shook his head and sighed. "Belle I tried to be a good man while you were Lacey." She was about to say that she knew, that she remembered, but he held up his hand to stop her. "Charming gave me advice, to show you the man you fell in love with, but he didn't know that it was the beast you fell in love with, the dark me, the man who…" He stopped talking as he came to stand before her, standing between her parted knees. "I tried to be a good man…."

"But it wasn't the good man I fell in love with." Belle agreed. "I fell in love with a ferocious beast who snapped and snarled at me. I fell in love with a beast who locked me in a dungeon." She pointed out all the things he had done to her and saw remorse flit though his gaze, "Despite all that, I fell in love with the powerful Dark One. And now I guess it was, Lacey, who allowed me to love you and see the good man you could become." She was growing conflicted from the time she had spent as Lacey. It was coloring her views of the man she loved and the darkness firmly rooted in his heart.

Rumplestiltskin brought his hands up to cup her face, his golden skin and black claw-like nails were touching her sweet skin and Belle didn't shy away from him, "You loved me all on your own. Lacey had nothing to do with it." He leaned in and kissed her forehead again. Now that they were home, there had been so much to do, they hadn't shared another kiss to break his curse. Rumple had been hesitant but now he wasn't. He loved Belle with all of his black heart. Drawing her close, Rumple put his lips to her. There was no more fear at losing his powers if it meant that he could keep Belle, but he was surprised when she pulled back. She stopped him.

"You want to break the curse?" Belle asked. The last time she had tried to break his curse he locked her in a dungeon. "You told Lacey that you could keep me young and we could be together forever." She shook her head. "And now you are willingly breaking this curse when we need your magic the most." Belle did the only thing she could, she laid back on the table and stared at the ceiling while she tried to get her thoughts in order. "I don't know what to think or what…" His hands were at her waist pulling her back up to him. She went willingly until her hands rested on his shoulders and tears were in her eyes.

"Belle, if you want me to stay this way, then I will for as long as you want." Rumple always did what Belle wanted of him, to some degree at least. Sharing true loves kiss with her just now was something he wanted, but it was also because Belle loved him and wanted him to be a good man. "I will do whatever you want." He spoke the truth running his hands up her back, placing his palms over her shoulder blades. Leaning close, keeping his lips just a breath away from hers, he asked again, "What do you want me to do?"

Tears slipped down Belle's cheek as she gave voice to her answer, "I want to be with you forever." Her words were the truth. Her words spoke to what she wanted. Why was she crying? His hands cupped her face, his thumps wiping away her tears. "I want forever with you." Lacey had given voice to Gold of her desires for eternal youth. Those were the same desires that Belle had had deep down but she had never given them a second thought. She wanted Rumple to be good but she also wanted to be with him. "Forever…."

Rumple had wanted to hear those words from Belle for a long time, but she was crying. Her tears tore at his heart. "Oh, sweetheart…" For 300 years he had been the Dark One, but now that time had come to an end. He had Belle. He had forever in her heart and a life in her arms. Rumple kissed her hard and fast. She pushed at his chest, trying to get him to stop, but he had looked like a beast for far too long. He felt the magic branded into his skin fade away, but something was different. The magic in his blood did not dissipate. He pulled back licking his lips.

Belle looked at him, seeing his face from Storybrooke. Her hands cupped his face, fingers going into his air, "Why did you do that?" She asked. "I told you what I wanted." They had been through so much and now his magic was gone. Belle finally reconciled that she wanted him to have magic. "I want us to be together forever."

"Ahh, but," Rumple kissed her sweetly, "We have forever so long as we hold each other's hearts." He made a grand flourish with his hand producing a rose with magic. "My magic isn't gone, it's just changed." Rumple handed her the rose, "Here, if you'll have it."

"I thought true loves kiss would break your dark curse?" Belle asked taking the rose with a smile. She thought true love would break any curse. How was he still able to use magic? "Will you ever be free?" Her right hand came up to his face and ran her thumb over his bottom lip.

"You cured the curse branded into my skin," Rumple answered feeling a terrible weight lifted from his shoulders. "The only way for me to stop being the Dark One, is for someone to kill me and assume my mantle." In Storybrooke, with magic, Belle had kissed him and he still could wield magic. His curse would never be over. "As long as I have you the darkness is at bay."

Belle smiled and then asked because she really wanted to know, "Did you… prefer me as Lacey?" The memories she had from her time as Lacey allowed her to see a part of Rumplestiltskin that before had been colored by her views of right and wrong. When she had been Lacey, Rumple fed his dark hungers and she had been fine with it.

Rumple lightly tapped the tip of Belle's nose. "That, my dear, is a trick question." He wasn't going to answer one way or the other because his answer could potentially upset Belle and cause a rift between them. Rumple didn't want that.

"Rumple," Belle sighed, "I'm being serious." She moved from the table to go and stand by the window again seeing a storm brewing on the horizon. "I just want to sate me curiosity." She had been wracking her brain for hours trying to decide what Rumple would say. It was driving her crazy.

"I'm being serious as well," Rumplestiltskin said, "That is a trick question that, no matter my answer, might bring you some measure of displeasure." He stepped behind her, slipping his arms around her waist. "You are exactly the woman I want." When he looked into her eyes he saw the hope and promise of a future. "I look into your eyes and I don't see Lacey or Belle. I see you. All of you."

"Really?" Belle tried to breathe through the thunderous beat of her heart. He had said exactly what she needed to hear, and she could tell it was from his heart. "You mean that?"

"Oh, sweetheart, I mean every word." Rumple answered stealing her lips one more time.


End file.
